The Novel by Katja Petrowskaja “Perhaps Esther”: Fictional Topography of a Family

The literary debut, the novel “Maybe Esther” by Katja Petrowskaja, was published in 2014 in the Berlin publishing house “Suhrkamp” in German and immediately fell into the bestseller category. The work caused a considerable resonance in the German-speaking cultural environment. Even before the appearance of a full-fledged novel, the author received one of the most prestigious literary awards – the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize for reading of a fragment from a future book, which would later appear in a work called “Babi Yar”. However, the laureate wasn’t an ethnic German woman, but an immigrant – Ukrainian by origin, born in Kyiv. The young author tells the story of his multicultural family (Ukrainian / Polish / Jewish / Russian) going deeper up to the 19th century. Through specific events of a small family such significant phenomena as revolution, war, ghetto, concentration camp, Holocaust, Babi Yar, occupation, various kinds of persecution etc. are seen. Therefore, a mosaic of small self-sufficient stories emerges, which create a large historical panel. The author is the bearer of a multifaceted and complex genetic memory.

„EIN MONOLOG DES FÜRSTEN MYSCHKIN1“ (NACH FEDOR DOSTOEVSKIJS ROMAN IDIOT) VON INGEBORG BACHMANN UND SEINE ÜBERTRAGUNGEN INS RUSSISCHE: ASPEKTE DER ÜBERSETZUNGSFORSCHUNG

The paper analyzes three translations of a fragment of Ingeborg Bachmann’s libretto for Hans Werner Henze’s ballet, The Idiot. Bachmann’s libretto is based on Dostoevsky’s novel, but it also expresses crucial themes of her own poetry, which is underlined by the fact that the text was integrated into her book of poems, Invocation of the Great Bear. Following the transfer-oriented approach of the Göttingen School of translation research, first, the semantic structure of the source text is examined, after which, the target texts are analyzed with regard to significant deviations, which are then explained against the backgrounds of literary, cultural and social-political history. The fact that Bachmann’s text refers back to Dostoevsky’s novel plays a not inconsiderable role in the choice of texts to be translated.

De ondinas, melusinas, sirenas y peces. Una reflexión sobre mujer, lenguaje y poder en algunas obras de la literatura alemana del siglo XX

El agua ha sido, en muchas culturas, un elemento frecuentemente asociado con la feminidad que ha dado lugar a una profusa cristalización en símbolos. Las sirenas, Melusina y las ondinas han sido, en este sentido, figuras relevantes, conectadas, por lo general, con una idea amenazante de lo femenino, si bien en el romanticismo y el surrealismo se revierte en parte dicha equivalencia: aunque igualmente vinculada con lo líquido, se dota a la mujer de un poder redentor. Desde posicionamientos feministas occidentales, sobre todo de la diferencia, la relación entre lo femenino y lo fluido ha servido también para replantear, de modo crítico, el lugar que ocupa la feminidad en el orden simbólico para, desde ahí, esbozar otras posibilidades de conceptualización y representación. El presente artículo se centra en el análisis de algunas de estas figuras acuáticas femeninas en cuatro obras de escritoras del siglo XX pertenecientes al ámbito literario germano-parlante: Ingeborg Bachmann, Irmtraud Morgner y Yoko Tawada. En todas ellas son centrales las figuras asociadas al medio acuático y sirven para abordar cuestiones que tienen que ver con la identidad femenina, el poder, el lenguaje y la escritura.

Formalização estética e história na Áustria: anotações sobre Ingeborg Bachmann e Thomas Bernhard

Neste artigo, partimos de um momento representativo da história austríaca, no final dos anos 1950, marcado por alguns desenvolvimentos no plano da vida social que buscavam parceria e harmonia, sem lidar com seu passado em relação ao nazismo. Contra essa situação se insurgem alguns autores fundamentais para a literatura austríaca, buscando formalizações estéticas que efetivam uma localização histórica crítica, que deve muito à perspectiva do materialista histórico benjaminiano. O recorte desse artigo recai sobre duas obras: o conto Unter Mördern und Irren (escrito em 1956-7, publicado em 1961), de Ingeborg Bachmann e o romance Auslöschung (1986), de Thomas Bernhard.